The sale of photographs taken by a photographer of a customer of, for example, a theme park, cruise, or other event where there are large volumes of people present is known in the art. This system has inherent inefficiencies, in that the photographer typically prints many more photographs than are ultimately sold, and the sale is dependent upon the customer's viewing and agreeing to purchase the photograph displayed after the event, thereby losing any momentum caused by the excitement of the moment.
An additional problem with known systems is that panoramic photographic images, which may comprise, for example, still or video images, are typically not possible when taken by a photographer close to the customer, nor images taken from a distance or height.
Further, a customer may desire a photograph to be taken at a time when a photographer is not in the vicinity.
Another particular difficulty with photography in general is that there is no really viable system available wherein the photographer him/herself can be in the picture. Personal camera equipment is typically not sufficiently sophisticated to produce a good product, and extra equipment, such as tripods, must be hauled along to accomplish self-photos. In the realm of videography, there is no known way to film oneself wherein the camera moves. Further, the skill of the individual is typically lacking, and good amateur photographs are rare.
An additional difficulty at present is that there is no known way for a professional photographer to photograph a person at a location and distribute to a plurality of other people simultaneously and contemporaneously for a fee, the photograph being of much higher quality than would be possible using, for example, a cellular telephone or other such device.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods for more efficiently capturing and delivering photographic and/or video images to a customer on demand, with the capability of remote ordering and payment, in some embodiments upon viewing a preview of the image with the use of a personal communication device. It would also be desirable to provide systems and methods wherein the customer him/herself can be a subject of the image. It would be additionally desirable to provide systems and methods for distributing images simultaneously and contemporaneously to a plurality of persons other than the image subject as well as to the image subject him/herself.